Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni has declared that external efforts to exert pressure on his country are ineffective, responding more than a week after Uganda was ousted from a significant US-Africa trade initiative.
The United States initially issued a threat to impose sanctions on Uganda and remove it from the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) trade agreement in May, following the passage of a contentious anti-homosexuality law in the East African nation.
The law imposes the death penalty for certain same-sex acts.
“For now, those who put pressure on us, they’re wasting their time. And we don’t have to worry ourselves about that,” President Museveni said in a national address on Tuesday, speaking out for the first time since the expulsion took effect.
“What we should concentrate on is to fight corruption among ourselves. These are the real problems. Not foreign pressure, because that one has no meaning,” he added.
Mr. Museveni emphasised Uganda’s commitment to engaging in trade with international partners who “respect” the country. This statement comes against the backdrop of Uganda reinforcing its stringent anti-homosexuality law in August of last year, a move that led to the World Bank suspending funding to the nation.
The bank justified its decision by stating that the law directly “contradicts” the values upheld by the organisation.